Help - what to buy rich friends with no money!

[Justsayit123]

Got great friends and have been invited to theirs for Christmas Day. However, they are likely to get us expensive gifts probably costing a few hundred each and we can’t reciprocate. Plus there is 5 of us and 3 of them. They have harrods tea bags like I buy sainsbury red label! Any suggestions of what I could buy which is nice but not costing the earth?

We have similar with family. They love board games so we try to get a new one. The children are older and love things like a boba tea kit, a cute decoration for the tree, cute socks from somewhere like bare kind. They all also love books, lush bath bombs and I always think neals yard hand wash is really nice.

Ask your friends if you can stop gifts this year. Say your happy to buy a bottle and a dessert or something.

I have similar, and this year they're getting wicker basket (£2 charity shop, gave it a good scrub and it looks fab now it has dried out), filled with a selection of jars of jams, chutney and marmalade I've made over this year plus some home made chocolate truffles and some fudge, a mini fruit cake Christmas cake ( iced)when I get round to it (making extra while baking ours) plus some home made damson vodka. May add a tin of shortbread if/when I bake some as I have a very nice small tin with Christmas theme (again £2 charity shop). It will be tarted up with tissue paper, bows and ribbon. Cost to me in total perhaps £25-30 (I won't notice the loss of a few jars from my preserve cupboard as always have too much).

Last did a home made hamper for them pandemic year and they loved it.

I get what you mean as I have similar friends and I am on benefits.
Do not feel like you have to match their tastes. Friends just want your company.
I would probably buy flowers and a tin of M&S biscuits as a house present or a plant in a ceramic planter.

What’s your budget OP. May be we can help if we have a figure to work with.

One of the coolest gifts I got for a recent birthday was a book by an author my friend knows I love, with a message and signature by the author. She just posted it to him and asked him to sign with the message so only cost was the book. But I LOVED it!!

Homemade hamper is fab - peanut brittle, fudge, honeycomb, coconut ice, sloe gin, peppermint creams etc.

A game for all of you to play is also good - Citizens of Humanity Kids is hilarious.

Chutney (home made or artisan - loads of Christmas fares around at the moment to get a nice one) and notebooks - I love a notebook!

If they are your friends, then monetary value of the gifts isn't why they invited you! In these situations, you need to go for a family gift that is something that shows you know them. There are walking books round cities, so you go out as a family, maybe with some vouchers for coffee on the way? Theatre tickets? Go Ape vouchers? Nice cheeses? Just set what you feel you can afford and stick to it.

It might be just me but I cant stand jars of stuff we will never eat, baked goods of dubious quality that won’t keep and pickles. I would rather a very very good bottle of wine or some beautiful flowers from the florist. Honestly home made hampers always look a bit rubbish and cobbled together. Maybe buy this: it looks elegant but is good value and well cost the same as a home made hamper

https://www.highgrovegardens.com/collections/food-drink-hampers-and-gift-sets/products/highgrove-atlantique-wine-lovers-gift-set

You are invited because they enjoy your company and friendship so don’t sweat the gift too much op.

Don’t make anything, we thought we were nice sharing our home made wine, which we valued, sister in law and her friends had been laughing about it, so presumably brother too.

Agree; I'd rather receive a couple of bottles of decent champagne. Homemade jams and baked goods tend to be tossed here.

Champagne doesn’t go well with ‘not expensive’ though …. Nor are flowers or a very good bottle of wine.

What would be your advice on something CHEAP the OP could buy instead?

I don’t think I would appreciate this for the amount of money it cost as I don’t think I would want all the things and £100 is a lot of Money

It's hard to say. We are all so different.
I would not appreciate homemade jam, chutney or alcohol as it would never be used.

A hamper of food items also would be something I'd be unlikely to eat and I don't like chocolate.

I also don't like flowers or anything for my garden. Indoor plants I'd like though, but not poinsettia lol.

Handknitted wool socks would be incredible for me (just in case anyone is wondering) 😝

I have a baking specialty that I like to give people but I only give it to people who raved about it the last time they received it.

It's a tricky one OP.

I wish you we're coming to my house! This sounds amazing @Ariela

And tbh I’m 😳😳 at how difficult and picky some people are.

Oh I dint want a hamper because I won’t like everything.
I dint want home made stuff as a rule, I just chuck them in the bin.
Id love a really good bottle of wine or some good champagne please.

It sounds all very far from what I’ve taught my dcs - to appreciate ANY present, say thank you with a big smile and learn to appreciate the thought and effort that has been put into getting/making said present.
‘Its the thought that counts’ seems to be a thing of the past 😢😢

I've got something! Would they be interested in having their name etched on the next Mars Rover? We are mad on things like that and I've done it for all of us. You get a certificate you can print and it's free!

Very tasteless of them if they do they spend "hundreds of pounds " on each of you when they're aware of your financial situation.

@AlwaysGinPlease why tasteless when it could be they are being generous with zero expectation for reciprocal gifts. My brother is ridiculously rich (like sold his company for tens of millions rich) and is very generous at christmas. Our gifting hasn't changed since his change in fortune and he'd be mortified if we tried to match his spend levels.

There's really no need for conversations or oneupmanship surely you all just spend according to your budget.

A nice house plant, local honey or something homemade is a good idea. I get my brother fairly normal modest things like books, choccies, a nice scarf - all stuff he can of course afford but still appreciates the thought & effort.

from the film six degrees of separation: PAUL I think it must be very hard to be with rich people. You have to have money. You have to give them presents. TRENT Not at all. Rich people do something nice for you, you give them a pot of jam. PAUL (AMAZED) That's what pots of jam are for? TRENT Orange. Grapefruit. Strawberry. But fancy. They have entire stores filled with fancy pots of jam wrapped in cloth. English. Or French.

Appreciating a nice thought is not the same as using it. Do you actually force your children to eat stuff they don’t like? And be disingenuous? I have taught my children to be open and honest about their likes and dislikes if asked, and thank others preferably in writing when given gifts, but I dont’t ask them to lie or gush insincerely, no.

Hampers like this filled with odds and sods from your own pantry and various jams of varying quality wouldn’t be for me. I would however appreciate a book that reflected my interests, handpicked blooms or a personalised diary from papier.

You’ll never match their spending,so dont try
buy something not high street,small product run. Candle, coffee beans etc
make flovoured olive oil eg chilli, garlic put In A bottle. Infuse for at least a week for flavour
if they’re good friends,they’ll value you. Not the product

I think the idea of a game, wine and chocolates would be lovely.

What about panto tickets?